holiday while on sick leave

[Baron Von Doom]

My girlfriend is signed off sick after an operation a few days ago. She has another 10 days off, but remembered she had a day booked off next week.
Her work is trying to say she will lose this days holiday as she is off.
Does anyone know if this is correct or would the holiday not count and the day go back to her owed holiday entitlement?

 

[Deleted member 30535]

I think they're right. If your girlfriend was well and at work, she could in all probability cancel her holiday booking. However, being off sick, she is incapable of carrying out any work duties, including making an application to cancel her holiday. I think she will lose it.

Last year (2006) just before Christmas I had a week's holiday booked and on the Thursday before the holiday was due to start I got bronchitis and was laid up for about a week properly poorly. No ways I could get my hols back. It's just one of those unfortunate anomalies!

 

[sdb123]

If she has a valid signed note from a doctor then IME the work would allow her to re-book her allocated day's leave.

If they get funny, surely she could cancel the day's leave anyway and re-book it at a later date?

 

[Baron Von Doom]

If she has a valid signed note from a doctor then IME the work would allow her to re-book her allocated day's leave.

If they get funny, surely she could cancel the day's leave anyway and re-book it at a later date?

they say it cant be cancelled now. luckily its only a day so not a great loss. although her manager is not sure and will confirm monday

 

[John Simon]

My girlfriend is signed off sick after an operation a few days ago. She has another 10 days off, but remembered she had a day booked off next week.
Her work is trying to say she will lose this days holiday as she is off.
Does anyone know if this is correct or would the holiday not count and the day go back to her owed holiday entitlement?

Common sense says that the leave should be cancelled as when looking at her attendance record in the future the illness would show as 2 periods when in fact, it is just one. It would raise all sorts of anomolies.

 

[Sporran]

well my wife booked the first week off in the new year as leave i went back to work.

She got this flu thing going round and had it since 27th, worth said get a sick note and we will give you yoru leave back

Should be easy doc gave her antibiotics,

 

[unique]

My girlfriend is signed off sick after an operation a few days ago. She has another 10 days off, but remembered she had a day booked off next week.
Her work is trying to say she will lose this days holiday as she is off.
Does anyone know if this is correct or would the holiday not count and the day go back to her owed holiday entitlement?

it depends on the employees terms and conditions of employment. she should ask her line manger or HR department to clarify this

there is no statutory right for the employee to be allowed to claim sick pay and take paid annual leave at another time if an employee falls sick before or during a period when paid annual leave is booked

as such, if you have booked say a weeks holiday for two weeks time, and you fall sick on monday and get a doctors line for two weeks, you would be entitled to sick pay entitlement (which depends on terms and conditions of employment) for week one, and your employer can insist that week two is annual leave and make payment based on the terms and conditions of employment relating to annual leave

you don't necesarily lose your annual leave, you are still given that leave and are paid what is due for the period of leave requested and taken

i am presuming in this case the employee receives full pay for absences due to illness, thus the employee considers them losing out a days holiday as they would have had that day off and be paid for it as sick leave, but if the employee wasn't sick and attending work as normal they would have taken that day off and be paid from annual leave entitlement, so from an employers point of view why should the employer have to pay the employee one further day on top of the sick pay they are having to pay out already. as such it's common that employers wouldn't allow holiday leave to be changed to another date in the event the employee falls sick around or during the time that annual leave is requested. based on the initial post, that seems to be the stance that the employer is taking in this case

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10034711

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/employment/holidays_and_holiday_pay.htm

 

[Baron Von Doom]

she does not get sick pay, well ssp only.

i am presuming in this case the employee receives full pay for absences due to illness, thus the employee considers them losing out a days holiday as they would have had that day off and be paid for it as sick leave, but if the employee wasn't sick and attending work as normal they would have taken that day off and be paid from annual leave entitlement, so from an employers point of view why should the employer have to pay the employee one further day on top of the sick pay they are having to pay out already. as such it's common that employers wouldn't allow holiday leave to be changed to another date in the event the employee falls sick around or during the time that annual leave is requested. based on the initial post, that seems to be the stance that the employer is taking in this case

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10034711

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/employment/holidays_and_holiday_pay.htm

 

[unique]

she does not get sick pay, well ssp only.

if thats the case, she shouldn't "lose her holiday", she should be paid SSP where applicable for the days she is off sick, but not for the day(s) she is "on holiday", as for that day(s) she should be paid for a days holiday instead

assuming she works a 5 day week and say 40 hours a week, monday to friday, and she has already been off a few days (as you say she has another 10 days off), if she is only entitled to SSP when sick, then she wouldn't be paid for the first 3 days sick (say mon, tue, wed), but would be paid for the remaining days based on £72.55 a week. assuming she would normally be paid more than that for a weeks pay, she would therefore be paid a higher rate for the day she has booked holiday leave (ie 8 hours at £5.52 per hour, or however her annual leave payments are calculated), so it's not as bad as it may seem. if she works a 5 day week then the daily rate of SSP is only £14.51 a day, she wouldn't get the £14.51 SSP payment for the day her holiday is booked, but she should be paid based on a normal days pay instead (or however her annual leave is calculated) which should be a higher rate, such as £44.16 for 8 hours at minimum wage of £5.52 per hour, which is £29.65 more than she would get for SSP alone

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/rates_and_limits.htm

 

[Goody]

If you've booked time off and then you are sick, in my opinion it is tough luck. Why should the employer lose out? They lose out enough already with people taking sickies due to hangovers and "can't be ar$ed" syndrome.

I was amazed when I found out that a mate of mine, who works on the railways, had 2 weeks off to travel around Europe, became ill after about 4 days away, had to return home as he was laid up in bed and then was able to reclaim his holiday to take at another time.

Good luck to him but that is an example of how pathetic this country is.

 

[NGD Boy]

I've been here before myself.... I've been sick a few times in 16 years of working for the ambulance service(extremely stressful job!) with stress and my GP has advised me that I need to rest and recuperate(?sp).... he advised me that a valid sick note covers me and that i would get my leave back.... and I've never had a problem, even though I have s****y employers

basically they are wrong.... as long as she has a valid sick note from her GP she is covered and is entitled to have to days back... if she's in a union get her to seek some advice from her local rep.

 

[Goody]

as long as she has a valid sick note from her GP she is covered and is entitled to have to days back

Why should that be? It's this stupid mentality of this country that gives us inflated prices and the name of rip-off Britain. Who do you think pays for things like this? It is us consumers and taxpayers.

Private companies need to increase the costs of their goods and services to the public and public services need to be funded by increased taxes to pay for stupid rulings like this. Perhaps unemployed people on benefit could get additional sick pay when they are ill as they are unfit to look for a job on those days. The list is endless.

Maybe I, as someone who works Monday to Friday, could have a day off in the week if I was ill on Sunday to make up for one missed day of my weekend. Where is the logic?

 

[unique]

I've been here before myself.... I've been sick a few times in 16 years of working for the ambulance service(extremely stressful job!) with stress and my GP has advised me that I need to rest and recuperate(?sp).... he advised me that a valid sick note covers me and that i would get my leave back.... and I've never had a problem, even though I have s****y employers

basically they are wrong.... as long as she has a valid sick note from her GP she is covered and is entitled to have to days back... if she's in a union get her to seek some advice from her local rep.

she isn't entitled by law to have the days back. you have to remember that your GP has training and experience in healthcare, but is not normally trained or experienced in employment law which changes on an annual basis

some employers may allow staff to claim sickpay if they fall sick during periods of annual leave, and allow them to take the annual leave at another time, but they aren't required to do so by statutory law. employees may have the right to do so under the terms and conditions of employment with that specific employer, but it's more likely that the issue won't be specifically detailed, and each individual case would be considerd on it's own merits

people regularly fall sick during periods of annual leave. can you imagine how many people were sick over the christmas holiday period for example? you wouldn't realistically expect someone who was off for two weeks over christmas to return to work in the new year and advise their employer they had the flu for a week and want paid sick pay for a week and take another weeks holiday at a later time

if you wish to seek free professional advice regarding this you can speak to ACAS, CAB, or a union representative who can check and confirm this

 

[Baron Von Doom]

thanks for everyones replies
We will see what they say on monday.
If she was on holiday already then got sick then fair enough it would be tough luck.
One day was booked for next week, but has been told by the nurse she cant work for 14 days so wondered if she could cancel the day off to take later.
Its only one day so its not a great loss.
She gets 14 days rest while im working

 

[unique]

thanks for everyones replies
We will see what they say on monday.
If she was on holiday already then got sick then fair enough it would be tough luck.
One day was booked for next week, but has been told by the nurse she cant work for 14 days so wondered if she could cancel the day off to take later.
Its only one day so its not a great loss.
She gets 14 days rest while im working

she's not really got anything to lose by putting a request in writing in advance to formally request that days holiday cancelled, stating the reason for doing so is because she has been signed off sick and ordered to rest by her doctor, thus won't be able to do what she had planned to do on the booked day off, so wishes to take the day off at another point in time to reschedule what she originally intended on doing. ask them to write back to confirm as she won't back back at work by that date

they will either say yes or no. a formal official request like this may persuade them more than a verbal request. they don't have to agree to it however

 

[pete1866]

basically they are wrong.... as long as she has a valid sick note from her GP she is covered and is entitled to have to days back... if she's in a union get her to seek some advice from her local rep.

i think it is up to the employers , and they are entitled to do it, depends on how compassionate they are.

 

[iSix]

She probably won't get it back. I lost 3 days over the Christmas period (not too bothered as I've still got another 32 days) as I booked the christmas week off, only for a week before christmas facilities deciding to close the building that week anyway, so everyone was off.

If she does get it back, it's at managements descretion... there's now law or regulation saying she should have it.

 

[paul1967]

The reason why she will loose the holiday is that they will not pay the ssp for that day.As if they did they would pay her ssp and holiday pay when she took the holiday off so they save the ssp payment.